MOSCOW/KYIV (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine said on Wednesday they had completed a prisoner exchange, the first since the crash last week of a Russian military transport plane that Moscow says was carrying 65 Ukrainian soldiers ahead of a similar swap.
The Russian Defence Ministry said each side had got 195 soldiers back and that its own soldiers would be flown to Moscow to receive medical and psychological treatment.
In return, exactly 195 prisoners from the armed forces of Ukraine were handed over," the defence ministry said in a statement.
Russia says Ukraine shot down the plane carrying prisoners for last week's swap with a ground-to-air missile and that all 74 people on board were killed.
Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it downed the plane, and has demanded proof of who was on board.
Persons:
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Andrew Osborn, Mark Trevelyan
Organizations:
Russian Defence Ministry, United Arab Emirates, United, Reuters Moscow
Locations:
MOSCOW, KYIV, Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Moscow, Kyiv, Mariupol, Kherson, Snake, United Arab Emirates